11/19/11 The Big SchlossGeorge Washington National ForestEdinburg, VA

We picked a cool autumn day to hike to the Big Schloss. German settlers named the Big Schloss. "Schloss" means castle in German and refers to the large rock outcrop. The trail is a part of the Lee Ranger District of the George Washington National Forest. The trail from the Wolf Gap parking area to the Big Schloss is 2.2 miles one-way, and it follows along the Virginia/West Virginia border. Both the Wolf Gap campground and the Big Schloss are in Virginia, barely. The first .75 miles of the hike are very steep, but after that it remains fairly level as it follows the mountain ridge to the Big Schloss.

We arrived at the trailhead around 11am and the temperature was 43 degrees. We parked at the Wolf Gap campground and began the hike by hiking the Mill Mountain Trail. The trail starts out the far end of the campground. It begins climbing immediately, gaining about 500 feet in a little over a half mile as it climbs to the ridge of the mountain. There is a large clearing here with a big fire ring in it.

Turning left, we continued to follow the orange-blazed Mill Mountain Trail. There are several outcrops on the right side of the narrow ridge that offer great views of the valley to the east, looking towards Massanutten Mountain and the peaks of northern Shenandoah National Park.

The trail continues along the ridge, passing a few campsites on the right, for 1.9 miles when the white-blazed Big Schloss Trail turns to the right away from the Mill Mountain Trail. The Big Schloss Trail climbs to the top of the ridge to a wooden bridge that leads across a deep crevice to the Big Schloss.

The views from the Big Schloss are incredible. They really are some of the best in northern Virginia. We ate lunch at the top and spent some time looking at the valleys below with binoculars. The boys had fun climbing all over the rock formations.

We retraced our footsteps back to Wolf Gap and our vehicle. There are two geocaches along this route, one past the first clearing at the top of the ridge, and one along the Big Schloss Trail.

The Wolf Gap Campground offers nine free campsites that are well maintained and even has bathroom facilities. There are picnic tables and grills in the picnic areas. It's a nice campground and we look forward to camping there in the future.